BobaFettBlaster

Boba Fett Blaster

A few years ago I was sitting around during the winter and decided to make a copy of Boba Fetts Blaster, from the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi. I had scratchbuilt ships before, but this was my first 'prop' as they are called.

The original in the movie was made from a Webley flare pistol. I found some good reference photos on the web and cross referenced them and made drawings and printed them out. The prop was made from plastic and wood.
Alas, half way thru my computer had a major crash and alll the files were scrambled. The drawings were lost and what you see is what I have. Also the first roll of film didn't turn out so many build details are gone.
For some reason I lost interest and never finshed the project. Still it may be useful to others to see the photos I have.

  The 'frame' was made from plywood. Two pieces were cut out and glued together after spaces were routed out inside for a trigger and hammer.
Screw holes were added in all the places the original had them.
The grip was belted sanded down from a piece of wood.
  I left a cutout on the frame to put in some electronics and a battery.

  The crosshatch pattern took some thinking. Original grips could be found online, but I made this one. Only a right side is needed.
I used a car speaker cover and coated the grip with car body putty. Then the screen was pushed into the putty and pulled off when the putty was still 'rubbery'. Sand them down and clean them up and they look fine.
Some say the diamond pattern is reversed. Okay, then glue the speaker screen to the gun and epoxy it in nicely. Close enough.

  The barrel assembly started off as a single piece of ABS drain pipe.
The first part is the webley flare gun. A slot was cut to fit the frame and extensions added to the lower sides. A steel insert was added around the pivot hole and screwed into the abs. The outer plate was added and the gaps filled in with fiberglass resin and putty.
The next section looks to me like a quick connect from a small fire hose. I used an abs connector piece, cut out the inner lip, and slid it on. Then it was wrapped with several layers of Styrene plastic.

  The breech end was recreated from plastic. It had an interesting way of closing... if I could remember what that was.
  I can see here that the first part also had a layer of styrene to bring it up to final size.

  Here you can see the slot for the frame. I made no attempt to make the inside of the barrel round.

  It's all kind of dark because I was using black primer. Primer, sand, putty, primer, sand, putty.

  The stock was cut from two pieces of wood that was found in the 'free scraps' box at the hardware store. One side had the cut out added. A thin piece of plywood was glued between them to create the correct thickness, and the stock was stained very dark.
The 'D' handle was cut from plywood. I painted on several coats of fiberglass resin which soaked into the grain. I added the little thumb relief for my own fit.
The 'D' and half the stock could be made in one piece and save a few steps.

   The scope is an old scope from a .22. It looked familiar because my old .22 had one just like it, but I no longer had access to it.
  The entire thing was handmade using 3/4 and 1 inch aluminum tubing from Home Depot. The larger piece is centered over the smaller and glued in, then body putty was used to make the angles and sanded down.
  You could put dollar store binocular lenses in the ends for looks.

  Here's the center piece. It is two pieces of styrene at 90 degrees with glue and putty filling in the rest.
The adjustment knobs were made on a lathe from copper pipe, and the screws are ..screws.
You could check at a gunshop to see if they have a box full of knobs laying around.

The stocks have details added to them which are from an engine model. I call them the robot head and the plug.
  They were scratch-made from styrene and molded in silicone molds. The first copy is shown but wasn't used.

The third part of the barrel is actually the narrowest, but has rubber strips surrounding it. They say the strips are the wiper blades from an old British car.
  I cut a mold in wood using two router bits. Putty was mixed with fiberglass resin, fiberglass threads, and poured in.
They looked pretty good but warped up within awhile. Perhaps they should be held down for a few days.

Here is some edited emails that gave me the dimensions to use;

From Fettcicle
Hello, here are the mesurements you want. I used a pair of calipers and a steel ruler so their accurate. The barrel is 2" at the point just before the chamber and 1 3/4" at the opening of the barrel. The grips are 3 11/16" tall at a 90 degree angle from the very bottom to the flat of the very top. The width of the very bottom of the grip is 2" at its widest point. Hope this helps, Shawn
Sure, the frame is 5/8" below the trigger and the chamber, it is slightly narrower between the grips and it is about 1/2" between where the grips attach. The stock is tapered and is 1 5/8" at the butt end and is 1 3/8" just before the scoop is cut out of the stock where it tapers off sharply oppsite the bracket.
This is the mesurement of the Chamber portion where it's flat at the bottom just before the part that the hammer rests against, it's the portion of the chamber that remains when the barrel is flipped open. From the flat part at the bottom to the top of just the chamber is 2 5/8" let me know if this is what you needed.
Were you able to get a link to all the photos? http://imageevent.com/fettcicle/webley?n=0&z=2&c=3&x=1&m=15&w=0&p=0
I'm guessing you mean the chamber portion that starts out round by the barrel and becomes rectangular by the hammer of the trigger. From the "feet" to the top of the rounded portion was the mesurement I gave you. In order to open the barrel, you need to press down the flat piece in back of the chamber, then the barrel flips open. I didn't include the top of that in the mesurement, just the chamber portion.
The distance between the centers are 2 1/4" the thumb screws have an outside dia of about 5/16 the screw dia is 1/8" hope this helps! Shawn
The stock brass pieces are a hair wider then 1/4" wide, the screws are 1/8" wide with a 3/16" head on them.
The screws I have are 2 different length to make up for the taper of the stock, they are only threaded about 1/2" on both screws, an even amount of threads on each screw so I'm guessing that they wern't cut down to compensate.
Actually the knurled nut is closer to the 5/16", the thumb nut in the stock was just a bit larger then 1/4", but I can only use a ruler to mesure because it's sunk into the stock. The screws are 1/8 with a fine thread, and the heads of the screw are slightly rounded with about a 1/16 flat all the way around the edge of the head.
Well, the gun was a webley with the barrel cut down and replaced with a steel extention, that makes up for half the weight of the gun. During one of the cons, I got so tired just carrying the thing, I had a friend of mine start to carry it
Now, for the scope. The overall length is 11 1/2" the dia of the body is 3/4" the short cones widest dia is 1" and that dia remains consistant for 7/8" then begins to taper to the 3/4" at its smallest dia, the length of the tapered portion is 7/8" long, the overall length is 1 3/4". The longer cone at the front of the scope is 2 5/8" long, the largest dia is 1" and tapers to 7/8" over a length of 2 1/4" then there is a straight knurled collar, that is 15/16" in dia and 1/4" wide, then there is a short collar just before it screws onto the barrel, that collar is 7/8" in dia and 1/8" wide. Now, there is the 2 knobs at the top of the center of the barrel. The knobs are 5/8" dia and 3/8" high. with a straight knurl and a chamfered edge around the top. it rests on a block that is at a 90 degree angle, this has all kinds details that I probably couldn't explain without a set of prints.
I have a couple of other scopes that have a VERY simular mount, just the knobs are a bit larger. You could probably find one to match if you have a scope available. Let me know if these mesurements are clear. Now the stock plates are for thr larger 1 3/4" wide and 2 3/4" long (I'll see if I can get a good pic to post later) the smaller detail is 1 1/4" wide and 1 5/8" long.

	The 'frame' was made from plywood. Two pieces were cut out and glued together after spaces were routed out inside for a trigger and hammer. Screw holes were added in all the places the original had them. The grip was belted sanded down from a piece of wood. I left a cutout on the frame to put in some electronics and a battery.
	The crosshatch pattern took some thinking. Original grips could be found online, but I made this one. Only a right side is needed. I used a car speaker cover and coated the grip with car body putty. Then the screen was pushed into the putty and pulled off when the putty was still 'rubbery'. Sand them down and clean them up and they look fine. Some say the diamond pattern is reversed. Okay, then glue the speaker screen to the gun and epoxy it in nicely. Close enough.
	The barrel assembly started off as a single piece of ABS drain pipe. The first part is the webley flare gun. A slot was cut to fit the frame and extensions added to the lower sides. A steel insert was added around the pivot hole and screwed into the abs. The outer plate was added and the gaps filled in with fiberglass resin and putty. The next section looks to me like a quick connect from a small fire hose. I used an abs connector piece, cut out the inner lip, and slid it on. Then it was wrapped with several layers of Styrene plastic.
	The breech end was recreated from plastic. It had an interesting way of closing... if I could remember what that was. I can see here that the first part also had a layer of styrene to bring it up to final size.
	Here you can see the slot for the frame. I made no attempt to make the inside of the barrel round. It's all kind of dark because I was using black primer. Primer, sand, putty, primer, sand, putty.
	The stock was cut from two pieces of wood that was found in the 'free scraps' box at the hardware store. One side had the cut out added. A thin piece of plywood was glued between them to create the correct thickness, and the stock was stained very dark. The 'D' handle was cut from plywood. I painted on several coats of fiberglass resin which soaked into the grain. I added the little thumb relief for my own fit. The 'D' and half the stock could be made in one piece and save a few steps.
	The scope is an old scope from a .22. It looked familiar because my old .22 had one just like it, but I no longer had access to it. The entire thing was handmade using 3/4 and 1 inch aluminum tubing from Home Depot. The larger piece is centered over the smaller and glued in, then body putty was used to make the angles and sanded down. You could put dollar store binocular lenses in the ends for looks.
	Here's the center piece. It is two pieces of styrene at 90 degrees with glue and putty filling in the rest. The adjustment knobs were made on a lathe from copper pipe, and the screws are ..screws. You could check at a gunshop to see if they have a box full of knobs laying around.
	The stocks have details added to them which are from an engine model. I call them the robot head and the plug. They were scratch-made from styrene and molded in silicone molds. The first copy is shown but wasn't used.
	The third part of the barrel is actually the narrowest, but has rubber strips surrounding it. They say the strips are the wiper blades from an old British car. I cut a mold in wood using two router bits. Putty was mixed with fiberglass resin, fiberglass threads, and poured in. They looked pretty good but warped up within awhile. Perhaps they should be held down for a few days.